


Moments of Comfort

by The_shadow_of_a_fool



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Drabble Collection, Everyone Needs Hugs, Found Families, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Im gonna be making many tweaks, Lonely kids, More tags to be added, Music, Not Beta Read, Orphans, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Platonic Relationships, This needs a better author than me, feel free to tell me if something is wrong, not specified time, short but sweet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9553145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_shadow_of_a_fool/pseuds/The_shadow_of_a_fool
Summary: Its no secret that the kids of the Iwatodai dorm are a little messed up. but when things catch up, its for the best that they lean on each other. [Minato centric]





	1. Akihiko

                    It was a lazy sunday mid-morning in the dorm, and Akihiko was watching Minato working in the kitchen. From the table the older boy was idling the minutes away listening to the crunch of vegetables being chopped, and plunking of them into shallow water at the bottom of a pot. Once Minato had it all ready, he switched on the cooktop and Akihiko went deathly still.

                   The gas flames flickered before his eyes, but he was far away, in a small room with two people who mean the world to him. And all of a sudden he wasn’t a young adult in the lobby of a high school dorm, he was a scared child in a burning orphanage. His lungs constricted and his breathing grew heavy. Flames crackled and cackled at his distress. Ash invaded his senses, smoke not far behind. Heat danced across his frame that felt all too small. Maki, where was she, he needed to get her out, he needed to get her to safety his, baby sister where was she? The smoke wasn’t in his lungs but he could feel it regardless. Pricking at his eyes, pulling at his body to bring him to the ground. Panic seized him and he started hyperventilating.

                   Back in the dorm Akihiko has raised his hand to his mouth, and is on the verge of tears. Minato pauses for a moment, but reaches to the left hand of the table, picking up a remote for the TV. he turns it on to a random chanel, and turns the volume up suddenly, and the sudden noise shakes the white haired teen back into some form of awareness. He looks around almost shocked, and the younger boy catches his attention. Minato pulled the space under the sink open, and with some louder than absolutely necessary clangs of pots and pans, he pulls a fire extinguisher out. Placing it next to the stove, he gives a placid glance and offers a single sentence of explanation : “Safety first,” In his signature monotone. And he went back to work with not another word. The whole altercation took less than two minutes, but it would leave a lasting effect on the senior. “how did you know?” would sit at the tip of his tongue for quite some time, but ultimately go unsaid.

                 

                  A week later the old stove was replaced with a newer electric model, one of the “flameless” types. If that was Minato’s work, he would never know for sure, but he was quietly grateful to the younger man. The question never left him however, “How did he know?”


	2. Shinjiro

 Shinjiro was grateful that the persona suppressing medicine had few visible side effects, but that didn't mean it had none. He had been lucky that none of the other residents of the dorm had been around for one of his coughing fits. But at three in the morning, his luck had apparently run out. He was about to head up-stairs when he inhaled wrong and ended up triggering one. The fit had started out mild, but had caused him to fall to his hands and knees in front of the stairs one had supporting his body, and the other covering his mouth to muffle the sound, he guessed, however he had failed when someone had arrived at the top of the stairwell and started to move toward him. 

  


To his surprise the person stepped around him and moved to the kitchen and turned on the faucet. He was wondering what this person was thinking, and focusing on trying to get his lungs under control when the person returned. Crouching next to him, the person slowly began to rub circles into his back. The surprise almost made him start coughing again. Almost. He forced himself to stop out of pure spite. 

  


Looking up, he received the forth surprise of the morning, the person who was next to him was the kid he met at the hospital, what was his name again? Aki had said it a few times, but he couldn't remember. In the kid’s hand was a glass of water that he motioned for Shinjiro to take. He did, and the water was just what his raw throat needed. He drained the cup and got to his feet, the boy followed suit. The silence stretched and Shinjiro carefully cleared his throat and broke the ice with,

  


“Sorry if I woke you up, didn't mean to, and ,uh, thanks,” Shinjiro wasn't used to being the one to hold up a conversation, but this kid wasn’t helping any. All he did was nod and Shinjiro noticed that he was in full uniform- Did he sleep in it?!

“Hey, could you do me a favor and not mention this to Mitsuru, or Aki, for me?” The boy made eye contact for the, and Shinjiro was unnerved for the first time in a long time. 

“I won't tell,” his voice was soft, but definitely audible. 

“Thanks,” 

“No problem,” The silence stretched on. Then an unspoken agreement was reached and they walked to the third floor, and went to their respective rooms without another word.

  



	3. Fuuka

Fuuka didn’t want to impose, but cook books could only take her so far. She had wanted to ask Shinjiro-senpai for some help, but Akihiko-senpai said he didn’t like it when people brought his cooking up. But Akihiko-senpai did say that their leader was good at cooking, so maybe he wouldn’t mind teaching her? She had worked up the courage to ask him last Thursday, and the next sunday they were in the kitchen, in front of the brand new oven. She was nervous, and kept making mistakes, but Minato was patient, and hadn't gotten mad at her yet. But she treaded lightly regardless.  

 

By the time her… creation had been burned for the fifth time, Minato let out a disgruntled sigh, and set off alarm bells in her head. Oh god, had she finally worn down his patience? Did he only agree to be polite? Did he hate her?!? 

“Hey,” His voice cut through her panic “you okay?,” he questioned to which she nodded her head frantically. Pausing he seemed to consider something then “I’m not mad,” She looked up and he shrugged and continued “I think the new stove is much more powerful than the old one,” the words were stumbling and awkward, and the most Fuuka had ever heard him speak at any one time. So shocking was his sudden willingness to converse made her momentarily forget his imagined anger with her. They both stared at the cook top in silence for a minute before he reached forward and clicked it off. 

 

“Why did you learn how to cook?” Fuuka finally breached the silence, and immediately backtracked to “Y-you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I mean, just forget I asked,”

 

“Necessity,” was the only answer he gave and before she had the time to think of the implications of that he followed it with “You?” She expected that, after all she asked him, it was only fair she reciprocated. 

 

“I thought I should learn to do something more traditional, something more feminine, most of my hobbies are… less than traditional.” eyes cast down her voice lilted down to the end “I mean, what boy would want to marry a woman who looks like me and can't even cook or clean?” She knew she was over sharing, but something about the field leader felt… safe.

 

The boy held up one finger to tell her to wait a moment while he went to rummage around in the top cupboard and wait as he reemerged with the frilliest, pinkest, fluffiest apron she had ever seen and proceeded to put it on.  The image of the fearless leader in said attire was too much and she had to hold back her giggles. 

“Screw gender roles,” he said with a completely straight face, and she lost her composure, becoming a giggling mess. She was going to apologize, but the ghost of a smile that passed by the leaders face said that it wasn’t necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if Fuuka is OOC in this chapter OTL. I tried.


	4. Koromaru

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has been so long coming ^n^ Shout out to CarnivalDusk for being my very first comment! (I'm framing it on my wall) It took all my self control to not make Koro refer to Minato as alpha the entire time OTL. Hope you like it! ( I'm a bit unhappy with it)

     It was a no tartarus night, the dog understood that, really. But it was silent nights like this that he would let his mind wander despite trying not to. It was a night like this that his human was killed. Laying his head down on his front paws the shibe heaved the closest thing to a sigh he could. The hat wearing human had his ears full of white plastic, and didn't hear him. The green haired girl was similarly disposed. All three of the elder packmates were up in their dens, and similarly deaf to his predicament. However, the  ~~ alpha ~~ , field leader turned his head to the noise, and stared at him. Putting the book he had been reading down, the leader got up and went to the front door to open it. Intrigued the dog's head shot up, was leader offering a walk? He was! Motioning with his hand, he told the dog to come with him. Getting to his feet, he panted happily and trotted to the door.

     Leader closed the door behind them and gave one of his rare smiles, something that had taken a while for the white dog to figure out was a sign of happiness and not fear or anger. He supposed humans didn’t have tails for that though, so it made sense. The night was crisp and cool and perfect for a run. A happy bark ripped from his chest, and the human’s smile widened. 

     Eventually they reached the shrine and the happy mood drained away. A whimper. The sad feeling came back full force and he missed his human more than anything. Leader noticed and strode to a bench near the edge of the shrine, whistling for the albino to follow. He did, and the human sat and began to talk, a privilege that the other humans in the dorm rarely got to witness.

     “Are you missing your old owner?” Koromaru whined, that was a yes, he hoped the human realized, And he did, so he continued,

     “I know how it is, my parents are dead too,” his eyes were downcast and the dog was surprised, Leader’s progenitors were dead? That made sense, weren’t adolescent humans usually still under their parent’s care? But all the ones back at the dorm were alone too. The human spoke again,

     “It may feel like hell, but you shouldn’t try to forget it either. The more you try to forget something, the harder it is to move on from. I find it's best to just… feel. Let it roll over you and you'll be better for it. The more you let yourself feel the pain… ah ,well it may not get easier, but you learn better ways to deal with it. It will still hurt but you can deal with it better. Ya know?,” 

     It was a lot to take in, especially for a dog, but Koromaru didn’t become a persona user by being the average dog. Getting up and sitting next to Leader he began to howl. A mournful piercing sound permeated the air around them and soaked into the ground below. The howls kept coming and a half an hour had passed before he was too tired to continue. He lay his head into the lap of his companion who began to rub behind the dog’s ears. 

    “Good boy,” The human said while continuing to rub. He then scooped up the dog (quite a feat for a boy barely taller than the kanine when it was standing on his hind legs. And began to walk him home. As Koromaru listened to the boy’s heart beat a thought crossed his mind. His old human may be gone now, but his new packmates were good too. The alpha, as he wanted to dearly to refer to him as, was a good one. He may have lost much, but he had more to live for now. This was good too. He was falling into sleep. This was good.


	5. Ken

He felt he really should have known better, he had seen the grey storm clouds on the horizon, and had checked the weather report before heading to school. Rain hit his face and arms like bullets stinging his cheeks and soaking his orange hoodie through; But nevertheless he still went to the back of the shrine on his way home. Behind the shrine there were rows and rows of metal plates sunken into the ground with names painstakingly set into each one. The farther back you went in the graveyard the older and more extravagant the memorial placards became. Seeing as he  ~~is~~ _ was  _ the child of a single mother Ken didn’t have to venture very far in.

Kneeling by his mother's grave had become somewhat of a ritual for him. The day before and after each full moon he went to pay his respects as if to say ‘look mom! I’m still alive!’. However, today was a bit different. This was the second to last time he was certain he would get a chance to visit his mother's resting place. His ... plan was set to go through next month. On the anniversary of her death. 

Ken looked up to the sky in quiet contemplation for a few minutes before dropping his head again. Trying to think of something to say that he hadn't said a million times before. Ken noticed that it had suddenly stopped raining on him and him alone. Looking up he saw Minato-senpai holding his umbrella over the two of them. Upon this, Ken made a quiet noise of acknowledgement that was definitely not a very high pitched squeak of surprise and fear no matter what you heard. Honestly, after living with the guy for so long he should have been used to the almost silent way he would appear without warning. 

Minato looked over and nodded before reaching into his bag and pulling out a paper lily which he placed on the grave. The delicate folding soaked up the water almost immediately and swiftly lost its shape. They both stared in silence as the origami flower became flat and heavy with rain.

“Oops,” was all the senior said completely ruining the moment and breaking Ken out of the almost trance he had been falling into. For the first time Ken realized that his hands had gone numb from the cold and that he was sniffling, whether from the cold or from the tears he hadn't noticed dripping from his face as they mingled with the rain, he didn’t know. But he was grateful for the rain to mask them regardless. 

He picked up his bag and motioned for the pair to head  ~~home~~ to the dorm. He was eager to get into some dry clothes, and maybe a warm bath. No, a warm shower, baths were for children after all. As his senpai picked up his bag Ken began to wonder why Minato was there in the first place. You couldn’t see the road from where they were standing, and Ken didn't tell anyone that he was coming here.Did-did he spend his free time just sitting in the graveyard? Now, he didn’t want to speak ill of his upperclassmen, but Minato did seem like the type to do something like that. The aura of death hung heavily around his body at times. 

‘Whatever,’ Ken thought he just wanted to go back to his room and pet his hamster for a little bit. The short walk there after was silent. 

* * *

Roughly a month later Ken would visit the grave for what he thought was the last time. And there he saw was the same origami flower from before, a little flat, but there nonetheless.


	6. Yukari

Yukari checked her phone, 4:27 am, and groaned. She had been tossing and turning all night slipping in and out of nightmare after nightmare. Ones where she couldn't summon her persona in time to save the team. Another where she looked in the mirror and her mother stared back at her. Another where she saw her teammates pull out what she thought to be their evokers but were really… no she wasn't going to think about it. She just needed to not think about it and make it through the night and it would be okay again. She would go to school, go to archery and go to bed tied enough to not dream at all that night The first step to that was not falling back asleep, coffee was a must.

Padding her way out of her room she winced as the door creaked loudly. Still in her pjs she crept to the kitchen on the first floor and flicked on the light. Why was Minato sitting in the lounge at 4:30 am in the dark with a deck of tarot cards.

He was their leader and her friend and she maybe sorta kinda had a little crush on the guy but this was just like him wasn't it. She had even forgotten what she had come down here for for a second.

“Couldn't sleep?” his voice was horse, was it just from being unused or had he been crying?

“Ah! Y-yeah.” hers on the other hand was much louder than intended. Covering her mouth at the outburst and hoping no one had woken up, she stared at him. He patted the seat next to his, and she hesitantly sat down next to him.

“Wanna talk about it?” the image of her mother's face flashed through her mind her mother before all this had happened. The mother she could rely on.

“No,” she gave no further explanation

“Ok,” they sat there in silence for a few moments. She didn't even realize she had begun to doze off until Minato's hand had entered her vision. In his hand was one of his headphones. … Well she had nothing better to do she guessed. Clipping it on Minato shifted in his seat to throw his legs over the armrest and lay down. She awkwardly mimicked him, then they were lying as a mirror of each other, heads just barely not touching. A soft song began to play, something soft and nostalgic, romantic even. Yukari found her head emptying of anything but the music. It was a nice song and she… she was… exhausted, wasn't she?

 

Was that her alarm? No, that was her second alarm wasn’t it? Was that the right time?! She shot straight up accidentally pulling the boy what was still tethered to her by the ear. “Ahh! Sorry!” she all but shouted in his ear. What was she doing on the lounge couch with their field leader? He looked dazed and confused as to what's happening, so to say he looked like he did every morning.

“You're gonna be late,” teased Junpei, all too smug about being awake and ready before the two. Normally shed fire back with her usual sass but she had no time for that, it was twenty whole minutes after her usual leaving time, who cares what she was doing last night in the lounge. The next twelve minutes were dedicated to frantically getting the bare essentials ready for the day. Rushing out the door she made it into her desk as the bell was ringing, making it by the skin of her teeth. Sighing she slumped in her seat as the teacher gave her The Look. Minato silently gave her a bread roll in between classes, apparently an apology for making her skip breakfast. Her day was hectic, but not bad. She fell asleep that night and dreamt of nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey i work at homedepot now hmu lol  
> Yukari isn't my favorite character, can you tell? well, i hope i did her justice. the song i imagined them listening to is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jljeeuZobxI  
> i don't ship them, but i thought a quiet soulful song fit.


End file.
